2009/04/09

More like White Sux!

The Cubs' average ticket price of $47.75 ranks third in the majors, behind the Yankees (whose average ticket jumps to $72.97 from $41.40 with the new stadium) and the Red Sox ($48.80). The White Sox are fifth at $32.28.

Okay, the figure for the Yankees is obviously ridiculous, and no doubt it will fall substantially once they realize all those ultra-rich investment bankers whose luxury boxes were distorting the average price aren't, for some reason, showing up to the games as often as expected. But what I want to focus on is the White Sox. At Yankee Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley, you get to see top-notch teams playing in incredible ballparks. Here on the South Side you get to see a mediocre team in arguably the worst stadium in baseball, which unlike the others is surrounded by a wasteland of parking lots.

Now I happen to agree with Obama on the following (and this exchange is still the best thing I've seen him say to date):

Obama, a Southsider, was asked by ESPN's Stuart Scott what would happen if both the Cubs and the White Sox made it to the World Series.

"I would be going," Obama said.

"Who would you root for?" Scott asked.

"Oh, that's easy," Obama replied. "White Sox.

"I'm not one of these fair weather fans," the junior senator from Illinois and presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party explained. "You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball. Southside."

And the longer I live on the South Side, the more my hatred of the White Sox fades. Plus, unlike the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs, the White Sox sell veggie dogs (altho they're pretty pathetic veggie dogs, unlike in, say, SF). Maybe if they tore down those parking lots and replaced them with bars and restaurants, the experience of going to Comiskey wouldn't be so alienating. But until then it's sad that the nearest ballpark is not only my least favorite to visit, but it's also among the most expensive in baseball.